Alert: Support Fair Labelling for Copy-Protected Media!

Senator Ron Wyden recently introduced the Digital Consumer
Right-to-Know Act (DCRKA), a bill that would require entertainment
companies to label products with copy-protections that limit consumer
use. Support the DCRKA if you think the content industry should be
ordered to clearly label media that restricts your rights!

California Law to Protect Whistleblowers, Others Online

Assembly Judiciary Committee to Discuss Identity Disclosure

Sacramento - On May 6, 2003, Assemblymember Joe Simitian (D - Palo
Alto) will present to the California Assembly's Judiciary Committee a
bill designed to protect the privacy of anonymous Internet speakers.

A broad coalition of organizations -- including the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF), the California Anti-SLAPP Project, the
Northern California chapter of the ACLU, and the Privacy Rights
Clearinghouse -- support the bill. The bill was drafted by the
Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at Boalt Hall School
of Law at the University of California at Berkeley.

Assembly Bill 1143 would require that ISPs notify a consumer of any
request to divulge the consumer's identity when that consumer's
personally identifying information is sought in a civil suit. The bill
passed out of the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and
Internet Media Committee on April 29, 2003.

The law would provide time and the necessary information for the
consumer to object to the disclosure to the court. The legislation
would not lessen the accountability of Internet users who are subject
to valid legal claims, but it would ensure that individuals have the
necessary time and information needed to protect their own privacy, as
well as limit the growing problem of frivolous claims filed for the
sole purpose of discovering the identity of an otherwise anonymous
Internet user.

People speaking online have a wide variety of reasons for remaining
anonymous, ranging from inappropriate or untimely disclosure of a
medical condition, sexual orientation, or gender identity to the
potential for retaliatory job loss, harassment, or violence.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee meets at 8:00am on Tuesday, May 5,
Room 4202 of the State Capitol. Assemblyman Simitian plans to present
AB1143 between 8:00am and 9:00am, but there is not a set schedule.

Links

EFF Resists Copy Protection on Cable

Files Comments with FCC on Cable "Plug & Play" Regulations

Is restrictive "content protection" in your digital television future?
On April 28, 2003, EFF filed its "reply" comments in the Federal
Communications Commission's (FCC) regulatory proceeding aimed at
ensuring that future digital television devices can directly
interoperate with digital cable services, without the need for a
"set-top box." EFF urged the Commission not to let these "plug and
play" proceedings be hijacked by Hollywood's "content protection" agenda.

For nearly a decade, Congress has been urging the FCC to adopt
technical standards to allow a direct connection between your TV
products and cable service. (An estimated 70% of American TV viewers
subscribe to cable TV.) Unfortunately, just as the cable and consumer
electronics (CE) industries began reaching agreement on standards, the
motion picture industry got into the act and demanded that content
protection technologies be included.

What kind of "protection technologies" are we talking about? Well, one
example would be the ability to mark content as "copy never," for
example, allowing content owners to eliminate home recording. Another
example is "selectable output control," meaning that the content owner
can remotely control which outputs work in your living room, blocking
analog outputs in favor of "secure" digital ones on a
program-by-program basis. In addition, the movie studios want the
ability to dictate that products be built "tamper-resistant," which
would block open source software-based solutions. And the lynchpin to
the whole regime is a requirement that "secure" (read: licensed)
devices will refuse to talk to any device that isn't also "secure"
(read: licensed). This means that innovators will have to participate
in a complex private licensing pool before they are allowed to build
anything that can be connected to your television. (In such a world,
ReplayTV would never have been permitted.)

In December 2002, the cable and CE industries agreed on a set of "plug
and play" standards and submitted them to the FCC. The proposed
agreement includes content protection, but tries to offset the impact
on consumers by including "encoding rules" aimed at limiting the
restrictions that Hollywood can impose on various kinds of content.
The FCC asked for public comment on the cable-CE proposal.

EFF filed two sets of comments, urging the FCC to resist Hollywood's
content protection agenda. First, EFF urged the FCC to retain its
rules requiring that "basic tier" cable remain unencrypted and free of
all "content protection" restrictions. Second, EFF urged the FCC to
ban the use of "selectable output control" and "down-resolution"--
Hollywood's effort to disable or degrade the analog outputs on digital
television devices. Finally, EFF asked the FCC to convene new
proceedings to examine whether any "content protection" restrictions
are justified for cable television.

Spotlight on "Dataveillance"

On Tuesday, May 6, government witnesses will talk about DARPA's "Total
Information Awareness," TSA's CAPPS II (Computer Assisted Passenger
Prescreening System), and FBI's Trilogy project at a House
subcommittee hearing. The hearing is tentatively titled "Can Factual
Data Analysis Strengthen National Security?: Part I," and is being
held by the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology,
Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census.
Witnesses will include Dr. Anthony Tether (head of the Defense
Advanced Reseach Projects Agency), Adm. James Loy (head of the
Transportation Security Administration), and Steve McGraw (of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.)

Part II of the hearing is scheduled for May 20. EFF's sources say
that Part II will feature nongovernment witnesses, possibly including
computer security experts. May 20 is also the due date for the Bush
Administration's report to Congress on "Total Information Awareness."

Deep Links

Deep Links features noteworthy news items, victories, and threats from
around the Internet.

Searching for Accountability in USAPA
Representatives James Sensenbrenner and John Conyers have again asked
the Department of Justice to provide detailed information on the use
of powers granted in the USA Patriot Act

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